Sculduddery

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Illicit sexual activity or morally loose conduct that is considered indecent ; jokes, talk or behavior that is coarse and bawdy in a playful way
2. Behavior regarded as lewd or immoral, especially sexual misconduct ; earthy, risqué humor or talk meant to amuse through impropriety
3. Sexually immoral or licentious conduct considered improper by society ; coarse, racy humor that teases at indecency for entertainment

Etymology: Sculduddery, meaning bawdy or indecent behaviour and talk, is a word whose origin nobody has pinned down. The Oxford English Dictionary, the most thorough authority on English vocabulary, classes it as of obscure origin, which means that the sources it could draw on give no secure ancestry for its parts. Any tidy story about a particular dialect or borrowed root would therefore be guesswork. What can be said is that the word belongs to a group of informal, playful Scots and northern English-sounding terms for sexual or indecent matters, and its rhythm, with its repeated "d" and comic final "-ery," suggests it was built for the pleasure of saying it. The word's sound does much of its work: it has the bounce of a nursery or tavern word, which is why it is so often used with a half-smile.

Synonyms: bawdiness, ribaldry, smut, lewdness

Antonyms: propriety, decency